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President Report

I am delighted to be writing my first NACB President’s Report to the membership. This will be a busy year for the NACB, and I will do my best to keep everyone informed on what’s headed down the pike.

First of all, a huge thank you to Mike Bennett, last year’s President, and the Board of Directors (BOD). Not only have they set me up to succeed with everything that they accomplished and put into place last year, but Mike also continues to be a wonderful source of information and assistance.

Down to business: The Academy’s first order of business this year is LMPGs. The new LMPG SOP is official and online now. All future LMPGs will use this SOP, and the Academy would like to thank Dr. Stephen Kahn especially for his efforts, along with everyone involved in this document. It’s a tour de force.

Currently we have two LMPGs that were begun during Mike’s year and are proceeding nicely toward completion. One of these LMPGs is on Pain Management under the leadership of Drs. Loralie Langman and Paul Jannetto, and other is on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Measurement under the leadership of Dr. Nikola Baumann. These two LMPGs are the first to be produced using the new SOP, so they are in fact the Academy’s first trials using the new process. That they are proceeding so well is a tribute to the people involved with them. The Academy Board has also been approached about two additional LMPGs and we hope to be announcing these additional new LMPGs soon. As Academy members, if you have an LMPG that you would like to pursue, or suggestions for a new or revised LMPG, the Board hopes to hear from you.

Along with the LPMGs and the new SOP, another item on the NACB Board’s agenda this year is an official AACC/NACB Co-Sponsorship Agreement to be used between the AACC and Clinical Societies involved in collaborating on LMPGs. This Agreement is in keeping with AACC and NACB efforts to be more visibly a part of the medical community and to work in collaboration with other clinical societies. The Agreement is currently in an early draft and will be reviewed and voted on by the NACB Board of Directors.

The second major order of business for the Academy this year is the organization of the next Beckman Conference. The last Beckman Conference, organized in collaboration with the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), was a resounding success, both in terms of attendees and also in terms of introducing AACC and ASN members to each other and building grounds for future collaborations. Because of that success, the NACB is keeping this general organizational model. The next Beckman Conference will be on markers of brain injury and we hope to partner with the American Academy of Neurology, or another neuroscience society, for the organization of the conference. Work is already underway on what should be an exciting topic and an outstanding Beckman Conference in 2015.

These are some of the up-coming highlights and insights into what’s happening at the NACB. The Academy of the AACC is looking forward to a busy year. If you have an interest in something the NACB is doing, or a suggestion for something the NACB could be doing, please let us hear from you. Also, I would like to extend an invitation on behalf of the NACB BOD to all NACB members to attend our traditional NACB Luncheon on Wednesday at the Annual Meeting in Chicago this coming July. Come and join us, meet friends and hear more about what’s going on!